| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Khaelieth |
Posted - 04 Jul 2008 : 09:20:40
Just thought I'd share some ideas that I've currently been using in my campaign.
Power level: The campaign has just started; the two players are currently both 1st level druids, with a third druid joining soon.
The characters (so far) are two druids, a Nar from the Ride and a Dalesman with an unspecified addiction to a drug which we've not quite figured out yet (we were going to go with some hallucinogenic mushroom).
Campaign start: Last month of 1369 (so it's bloody cold).
The campaign started with one of the Silvani holy feasts (not the one where dryads decide to join in the revelry). Their compound is rather small (not even 10 druids), but is led by Turlang's brohter. The adventurers go to bed, with one of them being awakened by a horse whinnying (Sp?). Being quite surprised by this, he runs to his window, where he sees torch after torch being lit, seeing over a hundred armed cavalry. Deciding to try to sound the alarm, he is quickly beaten to it by the sound of a march (the Imperial March), which is struck up by the cavalry as they charge in, setting fire to the small druid compound.
Arming themselves, they decide to flee, as they rightly presume they can't win. They realise if they flee by foot, the cavalry will track them down and kill them easily, as there's half a foot of snow. Luckily for them, the druids know of a fey crossroad close by, but the shortest route takes them perilously close to the menhir circle. Cutting their way through a few Zhents, with visibility hampered by smoke, they circle round the menhir circle, where they see their great druid (Turlang's brother) fighting a crack squad of Zhentarim Knights. Hearing the different warcries, they presume they're up against Fzoul and his personal soldiers (correctly so). Reaching the fey crossroads, they are met by an exceptionally grumpy pixie, which they attempt to convince to allow them to go through. The Nar druid (who's got 4 ranks in Diplomacy) rolls... a one. They fight off small squads of Zhents, finally seeing that a visiting bard's taken refuge in the tree above them. Eventually convincing the pixie to allow them to pass, they flee the Border Forest, and decided to take the road to what they thought was High Forest (the pixie didn't know that it'd been logged the last 400 years), but ended up just south of Orlbar. They had several choices; Thornwood, Moonshaes and an island just off Waterdeep (project name: Innsmouth).
I've got several vague plans for what will happen later;
Fzoul was after the treant for his soul, which he'll use to craft that mace of his (Tyrant's Eye).
In Innsmouth there'll be an old abandoned sanitarium with a hedge maze attached. The whole island's a dead magic zone. Gonna do an "Nightmare on Elm Street" merged with "The Shining," which should be amusing.
Thornwood: They'll have to try to stop that Mintarn fellow and Fzoul from getting more reagents for the Tyrant's Eye. Also loads of Ravenloft stuff; there'll be mist. Also going to use a sort of Dorian Grey plot here, but it'll be a witch.
Moonshaes: Not sure yet. |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Khaelieth |
Posted - 29 Jul 2008 : 14:58:55
Alright, I'll see if I can dig up some more stuff!
Anyway, ended the campaign; silly adventurers were the victim of a TPK. |
| Brynweir |
Posted - 29 Jul 2008 : 14:46:59
That should have said Green's Sword... and someone else will need to answer because my knowledge is limited to the FRCS.  |
| Khaelieth |
Posted - 29 Jul 2008 : 10:10:15
Cheers!
Nope, Mialien and Livoh don't know about each other. What's the Green Sword? |
| Brynweir |
Posted - 28 Jul 2008 : 23:33:35
I'm assuming that Mialien and Livoh do not know that they are related and that it was another brother who is trying to have her killed?
Even though I don't like Zhents myself, there would be plenty of ways that you could tie them and thier allies/ servants into harassing the group, especially if Mialien's brother has any sort of power within the organization... or if there's something more important about her than even she knows.
Of course with Thornwood, there's any number of evil humanoids, beholders, and dangerous plant life. There is also the legend of the "Green Sword" about which I know absolutely nothing but which seems like it could make an intersting adventure.
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| Khaelieth |
Posted - 14 Jul 2008 : 15:42:19
Session three had two changes;
- Kreio couldn't make it
- New player joined
The adventurers, safely back in Dagger Falls, split up. Kreio leaves them to see if he can't find his family, and Grim and Livoh head with Mialien to the Stake and Hammer. Mialien slinks away quickly, and Livoh decides to follow her. Rolling a 1 on his hide check, Mialien notices him and runs through a few alleyways, losing him. Meanwhile, Grim's found a table at the Stake and Hammer, where he's talking to a man who's searching for his brother, Kreio.
When Livoh returns, they find out that they're talking to Kreio's brother, but as nobody knows where Kreio is, they just sit about until Mialien returns. Mialien promptly tells them they're hired as caravan guards, and the druids attempt to protest but before they know it, she's hired Loenad, Kreio's brother, and they're on their way to Tilverton.
They get ambushed by bandits, which they see off very easily, where Livoh saves one of the caravanners by healing him. On one of the bandits they find some orders. They're then told they've got to get to a village and pick up some rare herbs for the caravan, which is inaccesible to the wagons, because there's no road there. The village's name is Nogad (Spell it backwards), and people have been known to dissapear. The druids and Loenad start marching through the forest and westwards, where they eventually reach a warm, secluded valley, with loads of black, fetid swampland and a huge, black lake. The village lies by the lake.
Marching through the swamp, Loenad looses his footing, and falls up to his waist in the swamp. As the others try to pull him up, he feelt something tentacle-like wrapping itself around his leg. Shouting to get the others to pull harder, the tentacle lets him go. A short while after, they see a small fish engraved medallion in the swamp. Livoh takes it.
After reaching the village they meet a man who's curing hide to make parchment with an extreme stutter. After being told who to see about the herbs, they go fishing with a village, whom they later have dinner with. They're interrupted by loud screams from the neighbouring room. The mother gets up, excuses herself, picks up a club, and tells them about her deranged brother whom they keep in a cage. She dissapears into the room with the cage, some loud whacks are heard and the screaming stops. The whole place seems exceptionally inbred as well, with only about 14 adults, all of whom married cousins/siblings. Adventurers are disgusted.
Later, they all wake up in the middle of the night. Looking through the window in the room, they see the water's strangely withdrawn from the shore, revealing a ziggurat just poking through the water's surface. Leaving what seems to be an abandoned village, they make their way down to the waterline, where they find a boat, which they use to row out to the ziggurat. Tieing the boat to the ziggurat, they descend into the complex. After a few minutes of descending a flight of stairs, they come to a landing, with the stairs still spiralling down into the depths.
After exploring the level, they find a tomb with a sort of fish-human skeleton and trigger a few traps. Continuing their exploration, they can hear someone following them in the darkness. Livoh then takes the lead, and gets jumped by a pale human, looking much like the villagers, but wearing only a loincloth and armed with two claw bracers. His armour saves him, but being flatfooted and losing iniative, the attacker sails off into the darkness again. After being jumped once more, but wounding him before he escaped, they make their way onto the landing.
Reaching the landing, they notice water's coming down the stairs at an alarming rate. Realising they'll need to run, Livoh and Loenad slip because of the water and slippery vegetation on the stairs, and the attacker strikes again, slashing them both before running up past Grim, who manages to give him a rap with his spear before the creature's legged it.
As they get up and continue running, they see the door at the top of the ziggurat is almost closed, and Livoh slips again. The two others look at each other once before they decide to make a run for the entrance and perhaps leave Livoh behind. As Grim makes it out, he stands knee high in the lake on the upper stairs of the ziggurat, when two frog-like humans with small red eyes and large teeth attack (skum). The skum attack, biting and tearing, and he lasts just long enough for Loenad to make it through, only for the skum to also bring him down. With Loenad and Grim now face-down in the water, Livoh straggles out into the moonlight. Conjuring up a flaming sphere, he brings down one, while holding the other one off, who flees after realising Livoh's got the upper hand, who proceeds to heal his friends.
Now, up to their knees in water atop the ziggurat, they spot their boat; moored lower down, it's submerged beneath the water. As Loenad reaches down to untie the knot, a tentacle reaches out from the deep, attempting to pull the boat down. Livoh fires off a singing spell, which causes the tentacle to withdraw. Pouring the water out of the boat, they use their shields to paddle to land.
[Still not done, busy at work] |
| Khaelieth |
Posted - 07 Jul 2008 : 15:18:12
Right, as the players wanted to reorganise the campaign and weren't completely satisfied with their characters and that another player was joining, we decided to reboot the whole campaign.
Start date: 1st Nightal, 1369, Border Forest.
Power level: Everyone begins at 1st level.
The Characters:
Livoh: LN mh druid. His mother put him out into the forest to die when he was young, being an illegitimate child. He was taken in by fey, who raised him to guard the forest fiercly. He was later sent to the Border Forest, where he joined the Greenhome grove, a circle of Silvani druids. Due to his upbringing with the fey, he's a rather orthodox Silvanite. Because of the fey influences, he's picked up a few odd habits, such as eating hallucinogenic mushrooms. What he doesn't know is that his father is Teldorn Darkhope of Mintarn.
Grim Tallstag: NG mh druid. Originally from Dagger Falls, his parents sent him to the druid circle in Greenhome. His parents tried evading the heavy Zhent tax by hiding food and such, and one day, unbeknownst to his parents, a Zhent informer saw them moving food to their secret stash. As he went to inform the authorities, a ranger passed by, offering to bring the child to Greenhome. Grim later learned of what had happened, and is a little paranoid.
Kreio Duskbrand: NG mh druid. Originally from Daggerdale, both his parents were rangers and forest guides. During the Zhent occupation, they sent him away for safety reasons.
Campaign Journal:
The three druid apprentices, their mentors and their circle leader, Turanath perform the Song of Trees, a Silvanite ritual where they chant and call animals to their grove. A Perform (Chant) check (DC 15) was required to call an animal companion of their choice, with Livoh rolling a 1, the first roll of the campaign. Grim and Kreio both chose wolves, whereas Livoh didn't get anything, yet. This was roleplayed out by Livoh singing some old, out of use Silvanite chants about roots rising up and ripping towns to shreds. After healing some animals and burning some sacrifices to Silvanus, they go to bed.
Grim and Kreio later wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of the approaching Zhentarim. The druids, already warned are reading their few defences. The apprentices are told to hide in the forest, and as it's snowing heavily, nobody should be able to track them. If worst comes to worst, they should flee, using either their feet or the fey crossroad.
Problems quickly start to amount when they can't even decide which route to take away from the grove. Livoh stomps off into the forest, Kreio takes a long swing around the grove to take shelter by the fey crossroad and Grim attempts to cut through the grove to get to the fey crossroad. Grim promptly walked into a bunch of Zhentarim, and was only saved by Entangle cast by Kreio. Kreio and Grim then make their way to the fey crossroad, where they spot a few Zhentarim standing guard. Using speak with animal, Grim sends his wolf to go get Livoh.
Meanwhile, Livoh encountered a manky, old female wolf, his animal companion. After getting led to the others by the wolf, Livoh manages to reveal their hiding place. Luckily, they defeat the Zhentarim, with Livoh beating one to pulp with his club. Grim and Kreio attempt to stop him from mutilating the corpse, but are deterred by his wolf. They then eventually camp out in the forest.
The next day it's still snowing, and they make their way into the grove again. Turanath lies hewn on the ground. One of their mentors is crucified. Using Horror rules from Ravenloft, Grim runs out into the forest and Kreio begins to throw up. Kreio then spots what looks to be a Zhentarim keeping an eye on the grove suddenly gallop away. The druids then ran to the Fey Crossroad, finding out the possible destinations were High Forest, Thornwood or Dreamdeep (non-canon island just off Waterdeep. Deciding to leg it to Daggerdale, where Randal Morn earlier that year had defeated the Zhentarim outside Dagger Falls, they start running, Zhentarim on their heels.
Eventually shaking off their pursuers, the druids hit the road from Dagger Falls to Anauroch. They defeat a bunch of Zhents pursuing a lone woman. When they ask the surviving Zhents why they were after the woman, the woman - whose name is Mialien - kills them with a cone of ice. The druids, rather annoyed, try to haul the truth out of her. She dodges the question, employs them as bodyguards, and tells them the Zhents are after her for speaking out against Cyric in Zhentil Keep. They all head to Dagger Falls.
OOC: Mialien's Livoh's half-sister. Mialien is on the run from a family feud, with her brother sending assassins after her, as he wants to inherit Mintarn after his father, Teldorn. Mialien was in Zhentil Keep when the assassins struck, and quickly fled her brother's wrath. She hopes to lie low with the druids, hoping that hiding out in the forest will keep her safe until she's ready to return.
Reaching Dagger Falls, they find an inn, the Stake and the Hammer, where they decide to rest for the night. They try to find out what's happened to their old friends, finding out that one of Kreio's friends, Resh Blackcastle, joined the Zhentarim. As they leave to buy some equipment and such, a man dressed in camouflagued clothing walks in, and suddenly Mialien slams Livoh up against the wall and begins to kiss him ferociously. Kreio attempts to eavesdrop on the conversation the man's having with the barkeep, and seems to be asking after a woman of Mialien's description. They then try question Mialien's background, but when she says she was a really good tailor, they grow suspicious. They know something's not quite right.
Later, they go to sleep, with one guard outside the rooms. Livoh, who's been keeping guard outside Mialien's room, rushes down the stairs to see the inn's been set alight. Rushing upstairs to wake the others, he sees the bounty hunter run down the hall toward Mialien's room, but stops when he sees Livoh and turns the other way. The druid's eventually extinguish the fire through casting a lot of create water.
OOC: The bounty hunter had set fire to the inn and snuck inside using a rope. Seeing resistance, he decided to flee.
--------Sessions 1 ends--------
The next day they hear a town crier shouting out that more people have dissapeared, and sergeant Falen is on the look-out for adventurers willing to try and find the missing caravanner and townspeople. The druids and a rather unwilling woman head to sergeant Falen, who has some footmen show them where the last caravan was attacked. The last tracks lead to the Dagger Hills. Capitalising on their wolves ability to track, their woodland stride ability allowing them to walk effortlessly, with Mialien bringing up the rear with swearing and cursing.
They find an old mine which has been fortified by goblins. They smash their way into the mines, quickly defeating all opposition, but severely hindered by ewok-style traps involving logs. All goes well until an ogre knocks Livoh and Kreio out cold by hearing them approach and readying an attack. After some prayers and recuperation, they continue exploring the complex, deafeating chokers, more goblins, a goblin shaman and some bandits, they delve deeper into the mines.
They find the missing people, who were used to mine even deeper. Zhentarim soldiers were killed with impunity, until they meet one of Kreio's old friends, Resh Blackcastle, a local who switched sides. His aide, a spellcaster of sorts, quickly uses a scroll of teleport when feigning death to escape with Resh when things turn bad for the villains. Much rejoicing as their gold stash is liberated and the adventurers head back to town.
OOC: Later thinking of having a vampire move to the mine, lording over goblins and humans.
---------End of Sessions 2----------
Possible paths:
-Head back to the fey crossroad for Mialien's safety;
]Could someone give me a few pointers or ideas as to what could - Travel to either Thornwood, Dreamdeep, High Forest (Orlbar) or the Wealdath.
- Thornwood, Wealdath or Orlbar: Glenhollow; a village which actually exists in Ravenloft, whose only inhabitant is a witch who attempts to lure as many as possible into her Domain.
- Wealdath: Skirmish with the emerging Sothillisian Empire
- Dreamdeep; A dead magic island off the coast of Waterdeep. It's got its own fishing village and an abandoned sanitarium. The sanitarium is surrounded by a maze. Inside the sanitarium is a portal to Dreamscape, a nightmare world that only encompasses the island. Enter Freddy Krueger.
Other options:
- Run to Cormanthor, harassed along the way
- Run back to Border Forest
- Mialien, behind their backs, employs them as caravan guards
Any tips or such for a bit of horror?
Will post it at the Vault=) |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 04 Jul 2008 : 18:55:59
-The Realms Vault (forgottenrealmsvault.com]) also has a section to include campaign journals. I'd encourage you to share there as well. |
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